Punkins and Elections

Last night Jayanthi and I had some friends over to eat copious amounts of food and exchange the Arabic music we've accumulated so far. I had an excuse to wear the new skirt I had made here (fabric market plus neighborhood tailor = very cool) and we both had excuses to break out a lot of the American food our mommies brought us.

The menu:

"Burritos" with Egyptian flat bread, gouda cheese, lettuce, fool (the smashed fava beans flavored with cumin and other things), and my salsa mix (cilantro, lemon, tomatoes, red pepper, corn, and black beans with a splash of olive oil)

Stew with lots of veggies and way too much red pepper and cumin. When I was making the soup I had the snifflies and didn't realize how much of the pepper I was putting in.

Ginger Snaps with a Pumpkin Ice Cream filling. (Amazing Jayanthi idea) Do try at home.

I think I definitely have Southern "hosting" genes and I have learned a lot from Moroccan and Egyptian hospitality- they really have this thing down. The secret is basically familiar to Southerners- lots of food and don't let them stop eating.

Between dancing to Arabic music and discussing how the Boab (doorman) probably thought the guys who came over were in a 'relationship' with Jayanthi and I, we talked a lot about the impending return home. One of the girls, Amale, was concerned about people expecting her to sugar-coat her experience, especially the Arab-Americans she knows. Brian, from North Texas, anticipates that the people he knows already have a firm idea of Egypt and the Middle East and will not really be receptive to his experiences. Waseem, a Palestinian-Egyptian-American, didn't really say too much about going back, only that he would probably be even angrier with President Bush. News of the US paying Iraqi newspapers to include stories, secret torture centers (some allegedly in Cairo) and routes taking suspected terrorists through Europe, and all of the other Iraq business is enough to make the night really depressing. Part of being in a place where people can be arrested for nothing, tortured for anything, and don't have fair legal ways to protect against such wrongdoing makes me believe even more that the U.S. must have higher standards and must live up to its opportunities. Of course I can't validate the above news, but I expect more from the United States, perhaps more than I ever have before.
I don't really know what to anticipate when I come back, though a friend told me to expect a lot of "Did you feel safe?" and "Are the women opressed?"- related questions. Who knows. I do know that unlike my friends' fears, I am blessed to have relatives and friends who are already open and don't expect (I don't think! : ) ) sugar-coating or reinforcement of stereotypes or easy answers. Right now it is all so overwhelming I only feel capable of answering questions like "What was your favorite tea discovery in Cairo?" or "How often did you wear a seat belt?" or "What was your favorite Mubarak poster... Do you prefer the ones with him in aviators or the ones with hearts around his head?

As a related note to earlier- I would feel remiss if I didn't mention the continuation of the elections.
The three of Parliamentary elections in Egypt have been pretty violent;I'm not sure if you've read about this in the news, but I've seen it on NYTimes and BBC. The Muslim Brotherhood has benefited the most from the slightly less-stringent requirements to run for Parliament this time around, and though they are banned as a party, their members run as independents. They have gotten close to 1/3 of the seats in the Parliament, which is a landslide victory for them and unexpected to all. Unfortunately, the government and the army has done a lot to try to stop this, preventing people from voting, changing vote counts, arresting and trying to slander some of the candidates, and overall intimidation. I haven't seen any of the election violence because it is mostly in the outskirts of town or in other areas in Egypt, but it has gotten international coverage.
Here is a short article because everyone loves the short.
http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2005/11/26/egypt051126.html

P.S. Congrats to Gregory! 3rd in Southern Region and World Qualifier in Irish Dancing?!??!!?!? Wow!!!!!